Two dealers, near-identical price lists. Both publish $50 setup, $30 wire and $125 a year of administration, both route metal to third-party custodians and insured vaults, both bill a flat annual figure. From there they separate: one opens at $5,000, names its partners and pays a year of fees on larger accounts, the other offers its waivers on its own limited-mintage coins and arrives with a state enforcement file. Both sets of numbers below, plus a ten-year projection on $50,000.
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Choose Birch Gold Group if you want the cost in front of you before a sales call. It publishes every line item, names three custodian partners you can look up, carries all four IRA-eligible metals, and shows the lighter complaint record. Choose Lear Capital if the annual holding cost is your deciding number and you have read its file.
Be honest about the fee math, because it is closer than the branding suggests: Lear’s own fee-structure page lists the same $50 setup, $30 wire and $125 annual line as Birch, with $110 non-segregated or $160 segregated storage, so the two cost the same $235 a year on non-segregated storage. Birch pays first-year fees on new accounts of more than $50,000; Lear’s waivers apply only to its limited-mintage coins. Lear also carries a June 2021 civil action from the New York Attorney General over fee disclosure, resolved in January 2022 by a $6 million consent order with no admission of liability, plus a Chapter 11 reorganization whose plan the bankruptcy court confirmed on June 8, 2023. If a clean regulatory file is a requirement rather than a preference, that decides this before the fee math votes.
Neither firm holds your metal itself; neither charges a percentage of assets. Absences below are recorded as absences.
| LINE ITEM | BIRCH GOLD GROUP | LEAR CAPITAL |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum investment | $5,000, IRA or direct (Birch’s FAQ) | Not stated on the Lear IRA pages we checked; commonly reported near $10,000 |
| Setup fee | $50 one-time, published | $50 one-time application fee, published (Lear’s fee-structure page) |
| Annual custodian and storage cost | $110 storage and insurance plus $125 management, $235 a year, flat; $30 wire once; $315 in year one | $125 maintenance plus $110 non-segregated or $160 segregated storage, $235 or $285 a year, flat; $30 wire once; $315 or $365 in year one |
| Custodian you inherit | Equity Trust, STRATA Trust or GoldStar Trust, named publicly | NOT PUBLISHED |
| Depository | Delaware Depository, Brink’s, International Depository Services, Texas Precious Metals Depository | Insured IRS-approved vaults, names NOT PUBLISHED |
| Metals covered | Gold, silver, platinum, palladium | Gold, silver and platinum listed on its homepage; no palladium listed |
| Buyback program | Repurchases what it sold you, no headline guarantee marketed | Quotes to repurchase, a practice rather than a price guarantee |
| Current promotion | Birch pays first-year fees on new accounts of more than $50,000 | On limited-mintage coin purchases only: first year free at $25,000 to $50,000, two years at $50,000 to $75,000, three years above $75,000 (Lear’s IRA FAQ) |
| BBB record | A+, accredited 2013, roughly 8 complaints closed in three years, all resolved. BBB profile | No rating we have verified. Check the live BBB directory. |
| Regulatory history | None found in the primary sources we reviewed | 2021 New York AG civil action, $6M consent order Jan 2022 without admission, Chapter 11 plan confirmed June 8, 2023 |
| Best for | Buyers who want the price list before the phone call, and any platinum or palladium allocation | Buyers who want Lear’s limited-mintage coin waivers and will read the file and the markup themselves |
Source: Birch’s FAQ, Birch’s precious metals IRA page, Lear’s fee-structure page and Lear’s IRA FAQ, verified Oct 2026; other cells restated from our Birch Gold Group review and Lear Capital review, verified Jun 2026. Legal-history entries are sourced individually below.
A balance just over fifty thousand is the right test, because that is where Birch’s first-year fee payment switches on. We model a bullion purchase, so Lear’s limited-mintage coin waiver does not apply; the paragraph under the table covers the case where it does.
| SCENARIO, JUST OVER $50,000 | FIRST YEAR | FIVE YEARS | TEN YEARS | WHAT DRIVES IT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birch, new account over $50,000 | $0 | $940 | $2,115 | Year one paid by Birch, then $235 a year (add $80 if the setup and wire are not covered) |
| Lear Capital, non-segregated storage | $315 | $1,255 | $2,430 | $50 setup, $30 wire, $125 maintenance, $110 storage, then $235 a year |
| Lear Capital, segregated storage | $365 | $1,505 | $2,930 | Same, with $160 storage, then $285 a year |
| Birch, account of $50,000 or less | $315 | $1,255 | $2,430 | Setup plus the full schedule from year one, identical to Lear non-segregated |
| Gap, Birch over $50,000 against Lear non-segregated | Birch by $315 | Birch by $315 | Birch by $315 | Same $235 a year afterwards, so Birch’s paid first year never erodes |
Illustrative arithmetic, not a quote. Built on figures verified Oct 2026: Birch at $50 setup, $30 wire, $110 storage and insurance and $125 management from Birch’s precious metals IRA page, first-year fees paid on new accounts of more than $50,000; Lear at $50 application, $30 wire, $125 maintenance and $110 or $160 storage from Lear’s fee-structure page. Neither column includes the dealer markup over spot.
On bullion, the two schedules tie and Birch’s paid first year decides it. Line for line the published fees match on non-segregated storage, so the $315 Birch covers on a new account over $50,000 is the whole difference, and it never erodes. Lear’s segregated option adds $50 a year. The picture changes only if you buy Lear’s limited-mintage coins: its IRA FAQ says it then pays setup and storage fees for two years at $50,000 to $75,000, which on this schedule could leave Lear roughly $200 to $235 cheaper over ten years. Those coins carry higher premiums than bullion, so ask for the markup in writing before you count that saving. Keep it in proportion either way: $315 across a decade is about $32 a year, while three points of markup over spot on a $50,000 purchase is $1,500, gone before your first statement lands. Our gold IRA fees guide lists every line either firm can charge, and the comparison chart sets both against the field.
It prices itself in public. Birch prints $50 setup, $30 wire, $110 storage and insurance and $125 management where anyone can read them. A firm that publishes a schedule can be held to it; a firm that quotes one can revise it between your first call and your second, and you will have nothing to point at. Lear now prints its fee lines too, on its knowledge-base fee page, so on this point the two are closer than they used to be; Birch still names its custodians and Lear does not.
It names the custodian before you sign. Equity Trust, STRATA Trust and GoldStar Trust, against no name at all from Lear. That outlives every promotion on this page, because the custodian sets the schedule your account is billed on for as long as it exists, while a waiver covers twelve months.
Four metals, not three, and a wider choice of vault. Palladium is available at Birch, while Lear’s homepage lists gold, silver and platinum only, a filter rather than a preference. Birch also lists four depositories, so location and segregation become conversations instead of assumptions. See gold IRA storage.
The complaint record is lighter. A+ at the BBB, accredited since 2013, roughly 8 complaints closed over three years, all resolved. One fair qualification: a low count partly reflects smaller customer flow, and Birch’s feedback base is thin at around 300 Trustpilot reviews.
Bigger waivers, on its own coins. Lear’s IRA FAQ offers one to three years of paid setup and storage fees depending on invoice size, against Birch’s single year. The catch is that the offer applies to limited-mintage coins only, which carry higher premiums than bullion, so the waiver can be outweighed by the markup. Ask for both numbers in the same email.
A longer trading history. 1997 against 2003. Not decisive alone, but in a category where brands appear, buy three years of radio advertising and vanish, surviving several metals cycles counts for something.
Binding disclosure commitments Birch does not operate under. Counterintuitive, and real. The January 2022 consent order requires clear fee disclosure and a 24-hour cancellation window on retirement transactions; the reorganization plan adds undertakings not to misrepresent fees or hold itself out as an investment adviser. Those are supervised constraints on exactly the conduct that caused the trouble, and no competitor here operates under anything comparable.
A much larger feedback base. Trustpilot placed Lear in the high fours out of five in mid 2026, roughly 4.7 to 4.9 across several thousand reviews, against Birch’s roughly 300. Both averages are good; only one rests on a large sample.
Three things get blurred constantly here. An allegation is what somebody asserted. A finding is what a court or regulator determined. A settlement without admission of liability is neither, and it is where most of what follows sits.
On 17 June 2021 the New York Attorney General filed a civil action against Lear Capital, Inc. and its founder, alleging undisclosed commissions of up to 33 percent and operation while unregistered, affecting nearly 1,000 New Yorkers. On 3 January 2022 the same office announced a $6 million consent order closing it. The release records no admission of liability, and this was civil enforcement, not criminal prosecution. Calling it a fraud conviction would be false, and plenty of published content does exactly that.
Lear filed Chapter 11 under Subchapter V in March 2022 and kept trading throughout. On 2 August 2023 the Texas State Securities Board announced that Texas had joined a multistate group that recouped $5.5 million for investors through the case. The bankruptcy court confirmed the plan by order signed 8 June 2023 (D.I. 706, Bankr. D. Del. No. 22-10165), and Lear states the reorganization completed in 2024.
Birch’s half is short, and the shortness is the point. The independent record available is its BBB profile. Birch also publishes its own complaints and lawsuit-claims pages, stating that reports of legal actions against it are false. We credit hosting them, but they are not verification: a firm’s account of its own history is not independent.
| IF THIS IS YOU | PICK | WHY |
|---|---|---|
| Opening your first gold IRA | Birch Gold Group | Every figure is checkable before anyone calls you, and the custodian is named. |
| Moving more than $50,000 into bullion | Birch Gold Group | Birch pays the first year and the schedules then match, so you stay about $315 ahead at every horizon. |
| Buying $50,000 or more of limited-mintage coins anyway | Lear Capital, with reservations | Lear pays two to three years of setup and storage on those purchases, but get the premium over spot in writing first. |
| Funding under $10,000 | Birch Gold Group | Birch opens at $5,000; the fee drag is the same at either firm on non-segregated storage, $235 a year, or 4.7 percent of a $5,000 balance. See minimum investment. |
| Wanting palladium | Birch Gold Group | Lear’s homepage lists gold, silver and platinum but no palladium. A filter, not a preference. |
| Treating a clean regulatory file as a requirement | Birch Gold Group | Lear’s 2021 New York matter is documented public record. No fee advantage answers a threshold requirement. |
Recommendations follow from the published figures above, verified Oct 2026. Confirm terms in writing before funding.
Published schedule, named custodians, four metals, in at $5,000, first-year fees paid on new accounts over $50,000. Ask for the markup over spot in writing.
Visit Birch Gold Group →Trading since 1997, a published $235 to $285 a year flat, and multi-year fee waivers on its limited-mintage coins. Read the 2021 New York matter and the Chapter 11 case first, sourced below.
Visit Lear Capital →Birch Gold Group for most readers, on disclosure rather than price. Birch publishes its full schedule before any sales call, names Equity Trust, STRATA Trust and GoldStar Trust as custodian partners, and covers all four IRA-eligible metals. Lear has traded since 1997 and publishes a near-identical fee schedule, but it carries a 2021 New York Attorney General action settled for $6 million in January 2022 without admission of liability, plus a Chapter 11 reorganization whose plan the bankruptcy court confirmed on June 8, 2023. Fees verified Oct 2026.
On bullion, Birch Gold Group. The two published schedules are near-identical: Birch lists $50 setup, $30 wire, $110 storage and $125 management, and Lear lists $50 setup, $30 wire, $125 maintenance and $110 non-segregated or $160 segregated storage. That is $315 in year one and $235 a year after at both, or $365 and $285 at Lear with segregated storage. Birch pays the first year’s fees on new accounts of more than $50,000, so on a bullion account just over $50,000 our projection puts Birch near $2,115 over ten years against $2,430 at Lear (non-segregated). Lear pays one to three years of setup and storage fees only on purchases of its limited-mintage coins, which carry higher premiums than bullion. Fees verified Oct 2026.
Birch Gold Group's FAQ states a $5,000 minimum that applies to both IRA and direct purchases. Lear's IRA pages we checked do not state a minimum; it is commonly reported near $10,000, so confirm it with Lear. The threshold that matters sits higher up: Birch pays first-year fees only on new accounts of more than $50,000, ten times its own entry point, so anyone arriving at the minimum pays the full schedule from day one. Lear's IRA FAQ publishes tiers that apply to limited-mintage coin purchases only: first year free at $25,000 to $50,000, two years at $50,000 to $75,000, three years above $75,000, and the $50 setup covered above $10,000. Minimums and waiver terms verified Oct 2026.
Birch Gold Group. A first-time buyer gains most from checking every figure without a phone call, and from a named custodian whose own fee page can be read independently. Lear is workable but asks more of you: request the full schedule, ask for the markup over spot as a percentage, and read the 2021 New York matter yourself rather than accept a summary.
Keep going: the comparison chart, the fee calculator, the fees guide, and how we rank.
Lear, June 2021 allegations: New York Attorney General, press release of 17 June 2021 and the petition. Pleadings contain allegations, not findings.
Lear, January 2022 resolution: New York Attorney General, press release of 3 January 2022, a $6 million civil consent order recording no admission of liability.
Multistate recovery and plan terms: Texas State Securities Board, 2 August 2023 ($5.5 million); In re Lear Capital, Inc., Subchapter V Chapter 11 plan, via the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation. Completion is the company’s own statement.
Ratings and complaints: Birch BBB profile; Birch’s own complaints record and lawsuit claims page, cited as company position, not verification. For Lear we cite no rating of our own: check the BBB directory and the Lear and Birch Trustpilot profiles.
Tax and product rules: IRS Publication 590-A, 590-B, IRC 408(m)(3), IRS rollover guidance; McNulty v. Commissioner, 157 T.C. No. 10 (2021). On markups: CFTC advisory and the SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy.
Company figures: Birch’s FAQ, Birch’s precious metals IRA page, Lear’s fee-structure page and Lear’s IRA FAQ verified Oct 2026; other company material verified Jun 2026, restated from our Birch review and Lear review. Confirm every figure in writing before funding. Education, not financial advice. See our editorial policy.
The free 2026 kit carries the fee and custodian comparison behind this page, plus the questions to put to any dealer in writing.